Method of inserting fastenings



May 12, 1931. M. F. BROGAN '1,804,396

i uETHoD 0F INSERTJENG FASTENINGS Filed June 3. 1929 MMM Patented May 12, 1931 AUNITED STATES PATE-Nr ori-"1ct:

, MICHAEL F. BROGAN, F LAWRENCE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIYGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, -A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY Application led Junev 3,

This invention relates to improvements in methods of inserting fastenings, and is illustrated herein with reference to the insertion of metallic fastenings of a character suitable for use in attaching to each other pieces pass all the way through the layers of stock,

the fastenings being preferably, though not necessarily, clenched at one or both ends upon that surface of the stock from which they entered.

The invention may be said to be characterized by the forcing of a piece of wire into a pieceof stock, and deiiecting the wire as it enters the stock, ythereby causing the wire to emerge from the stock upon the side from Awhich it entered. As illustrated herein, the

fastening, which is driven without previously forming a fastening-receiving hole, is provided with a beveled entering end, and when the fastening is severed from the remainder of the wire a similar bevel for the entering end of the next fastening is formed on the end of the wire. After the driven fastening has been severed its ends are clenched upon the surface of the stock on the side from which it entered.

While the method of inserting fastenings of this application is particularly adapted to the securing together of pieces of sheet material, for example leather such as is used in the manufacture of boots and shoes, it should be understood that its utility is not limited to use in the manufacture of boots and shoes nor to use in securing together pieces of sheet material, since obviously it may be use d for other purposes.

With the above and other objects in view Vthe 'invention will now be described with reference to the accompanyingA drawings which illustrate a preferred method'of inserting fastenings and a fastening inserted in accordance with my invention.

In the drawings:

Figs. 1. 2. 3. 4 and 5 illustrate successive stages in the insertion of a fastening into sheet material by the method -of my invention,

METHOD OF INSERTING FASTENINGS 1929. Serial No. 388,059.

Fig. 5 also illustrating the complete fastenin ;a.nd

ig. 6 is a perspective view, on a larger scale than the other figures, of a deiiector which may be utilized to cause the wire from which the fastening is formed to be deflected progressively thereby curving thewire as it enters the stock.

In the drawings, 10 and 12 designate two layers of sheet material, for example, a piece of upper leather and a piece of insole leather, which are to be secured together by a metallio fastening 14 driven through the layer 10 into the layer 12 and caused to emerge from the layer 10 upon the side from which it entered without passing completely through the layer 12, the ends 16 and 18 of the fastening 14 being clenched upon the upper surface of the layer 10, as illustrated in Fig.5. Since fastenings may be inserted in this fashion by machines of various types the'details of which are unnecessary to the understanding of the present invention, I have illustrated herein merely` such fastening forming and inserting instrumentalities as will facilitatethe descripti'on of my novel method. For an automatic machine organized to carry out the method of the invention reference may be had to an application for Letters Patent of the United States, Serial No. 368,060, filed June 3, 1929,

Vin the name of the present inventor.

As illustrated herein, the layers 10 and 12 are clamped between a. work support 20 and apresser member or abutment 22 provided with a spurred member 24 arranged to prevent transverse movement of the layers of material 10 and 12 under the transverse thrust to which .they are subjected. The presser member 22 is provided with a wire guiding channel 26 (Fig. 1), a. knife guiding channel 28, illustrated as arranged at about 30 to the wire guiding channel 26. and a wiper guiding channel 30. which guide respectively the wire 32 from which the fastening 14 is formed, a knife 34, which is operated to sever the wire into fastening lengths and to clench the severed end of each fastening after it has been inserted. and a wiper 36 operated to clench the entering ends of the fastenings after they have emerged from the layer 10.

Q reach the surface of the stoclr.

The wire 32 is taken from a reel 38 and passes between adjacent helical surfaces 40 and 42 of a pair of wire feedin members 44 and 46, and then through a helical groove 48 of the member 46 into the passage 26. The members 44 and 46 are causedto grip the wire 42 and then to rotate, thus feeding the wire through the passage 26.

lThe wire passage 26 intersects the knife passage 28 through which the Wire 32, ac#

cordingly, passes. After it leaves the knife passage 28 the wire, the end of which has about a 30 bevel, engages a surface 50 of a deflector 52 positioned beneath the knife passage 28 and closely adjacent to the surface of the layer 10 of the work piece. The surface 50 is inclined relatively to the wire 82 as it passes toward the deflector in substantially the direction of the bevel of the end of the wire as the Wire reaches the surface of the work piece and therefore bends the wire in .a smooth curve, substantially an arc of a circle, in the direction of the bevel as itis forced into the stock, as illustrated in Fig. 1, so that the Wire emerges from the side of the layer 10 from which it entered without passing completely through the layer 12, as shown at 54 in Fig. 2. Then the knife 34 is moved through its guide-way 28 severing the fastening 14 from the remainder of the wire 32, as

shown in Fig. 3, and beveling the end of the' wire for the nent fastening. Continued movement of the knife clenches the severed end of the fastening, as shown at 58 in Fig. 4 and finally at l16 in Fig. 5, the deflector 52 being withdrawn before the conclusion of the clenching. The Wiper 36 is moved downwardly and toward the right, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the lower serrated end of the wiper engaging the end 54 of the fastening and wiping it into contact with the surface of the layer 10 thus clenching that end of the fastening.

rlhe radius of curvature of the fastening and the depth to which it penetrates the ma` terial may be varied by varying the angular relation of the clenching surface 50 of the deiiector 52 to the path of movement of the wire as it emerges from the Wire groove 26 and to the surface of the material in which the fastening is to be inserted. The length of the clench at the entering end of the fastening may be varied by varying the length of wire fed. Indeed, if desired, the length of the wire may be so regulated that the entering end of the fastening does not project beyond the surface of the stock or even so that it does not Such a fastening would be produced if the wire 32 were severed after it had been fed to the position shown in Fig. 1.

The length of the clench at the severed end of the fastening may be varied by varying the distance between the intersecting of the wire passage 26 with the 1:tall of the knife passage and the adjacent surface of the work piece. Such variations are within the scope of the present invention. Moreover, it is not essential, in all aspects of the invention, that the fastening should pass through the stock without emerging from the side of the stock opposite that from which it enters. If, as shown in Fig. 4, the layer 12'was slightly thinner, then the fastenin 14 would emerge fromthe lower'surface'o the layer 12, continuing, however, its curved path so that its entering end would finally emerge from the upper surface of the layer 10.

The order in which some of the steps of the method of the present invention are performed may be varied and, accordingly, the

claims should not be construed as limited to the performing of the steps in the order in which they are recited except where their performance in that order is required by the wording of the claims or by the nature of the steps themselves.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. That improvement in methods of inserting fastenings which com rises forcing a piece of wire into a piece o stock without previously forming a fastening-receiving hole and deflecting the wire as it enters the stock thereby causing it to emerge from the stock upon the side from which it entered.

2. That improvement in methods of inserting fastenings which comprises driving a single piece `of wire into a piece of stock, and deflecting the wire as it enters the stock by a tool positioned closely adjacent to the surface of the stock, thereb curving the wire and causing it to emerge rom the stock upon the side from which it entered.

3. That improvement in methods of inserting fastenings which comprises driving a piece of wire having a beveled entering end into a piece of stock and defiecting the wire progressively in the direction of its bevel as it enters the stock thereby curving the wire and causing it to emerge from the stock upon the side from which it entered;

4. That improvement in methods of inserting fastenings which comprises driving a sin,- gle piece of wire into a piece of stock, deiiecting the wire as it enters the stock, thereby curving the wire and causing it to emerge from the stock upon'the side from which it entered, and clenching an end of the fastening upon the surface of the stock.

5. That improvement in methods of inserting fastenings which comprises drivin a piece of wire having a beveled entering en into a piece of stock and deiecting the wire progressively in the direction of its bevel as it enters the Fstock thereby curving the vwire and causing it to emerge from the stock upon the sidefrom which it entered, and clenching one or both ends of the wire upon the surface of the stock.

6. That im rovement in methods of inserting fastenings which comprises driving a piece of Wire into a piece of stock, deflecting the wire as it enters the stock thereby curving the wire and causing it to emerge from the stock upon the side from which it entered, and clenchin an end of the fastening upon the surface o the stock.

7. That improvement in methods of inserting fastenings which com rises driving wire into a piece of stock, de ecting the end of the Wire as it enters the stock so that the wire is curved and emerges at the side of the stock from which it entered, and severing the fastenin from the remainder of the wire.

8. hat improvement in methods of insert- .ing fastenings which comprises driving a wire having a beveled entering end into a piece of stock, deiecting the end of the wire progressively in the direction of its bevel as it enters the stock so that the wire is curved and emerges from the side of the stock from which it entered, and severing the fastening from the remainder of the wire at such an inclination to the axis of the wire as to produce a bevel on the end of the remainder of the Wire of the same characteras the bevel on the entering end of the fastening.

9. That improvement in methods of inserting fastenings which comprises driving wire into a piece of stock, detlecting the wire as it enters the stock so that the wire is curved and emerges at the side of the stock from which it entered, severing the wire from the remainder of the stock, and clenching the severed end of the wire upon the surface of the stock.

10. That improvement in methods of inserting fastenings which comprises driving wire into a piece of stock, defiecting the wire as it enters the stock so that the wire is curved and emerges at the side of the stock from which it entered, and thereafter severing the fastening from the remainder of the wire.

11. That improvement in methods of inserting fastenings which comprises driving a wire into a piece of stock, delecting the wire as it enters the stock `thereby curving the wire and causing it to emerge from the stock upon the side from which it entered, severing the fastening from the remainder of the wire and clenching an end of the fastening upon the surface of the stock.

1Q. That improvement in methods of'inserting fastenings which comprises driving wire into a piece of stock, deecting the end of the wirefas it enters the stock so that the wire is curved and emerges at thev side of the stock from which it entered, severing t-he fastening from the remainder of the wire a short distance from the surface of the stock and clenching the-ends of the severed fastening upon the surface of the stock.

13. That improvement in methodsY of inserting fastenings which comprises driving a wire having a beveled entering end into a piece of stock, deiecting the end of the wire progressively inthe direction of its bevel as it enters the stock so that the Wire is curved and emerges from the side of Jthe stock from which it entered, severing the fastening from the remainder of the wire at such an inclination to the axis of the wire as to produce a. bevel on the end of the remainder of the wire of the same character as the bevel on the entering end of the fastening, and clenching' one or both ends of the fastening on the surface of the stock.

14. That improvement in methods of inserting fastenings which comprises driving .a piece of wire into a piece of stock, detlecting the wire as it enters the stock thereby curving the wire and causing it to emerge from the stock at the side from which it entered, and wiping an end of the fastening into contact with the surface of the stock.

15. That improvement in methods of inserting fastenings which comprises driving a wire into a piece of stock, deflect-ing the wire as it enters the stock thereby curving the wire and causing it to emerge from the stock at the side which it entered, severing the fastening from the remainder of the wire, and wiping an end of the fastening into contact with the surface of the stock.

16. That improvement in methods of inserting fastenings which comprises driving a single wire into and through the first of a plurality of layers of stock and into the second layer, deiecting the wire'as it enters the first layer so that it curves as it passes through the stock and emerges upon the side of the layers of stock from which it was inserted without emerging on the other side, and severing the fastening from the remainder of the wire.

17. That improvement in methods of inserting fastenings which comprises driving a single wire into and through the first of two layers of stock and into the second layer, deflecting the wire as it enters the first layer so that it curves as it passes through the stock and emergesupon the side from which itwas inserted without emerging on the other side, severin the fastening from the remainder of t e wire a short distance from the surface of the stock and clenching the ends of the fastening upon the surface of the stock.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this s ecification.

CHAEL F. BROGAN. 

